Some sinkhole Corvettes may not get fixed

By Thom Patterson, CNN

Updated 7:21 AM ET, Sat April 26, 2014

Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

Corvette sinkhole survivor: Blue Devil ZR1 – Hard to believe that this 2009 Blue Devil ZR1 was swallowed by a freak sinkhole at the National Corvette Museum back in February. The car was one of eight Corvettes that fell into the hole. Only this one and two others will be restored.

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

Damaged Blue Devil – When it exited the sinkhole, the Blue Devil was deemed to be in surprisingly good shape. Its carbon fiber running boards were shattered. There was some minor paint damage and a small crack in the windshield.

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

Blue Devil restoration – It's not often car restorers get a chance to rescue a vehicle this special. This job was handled by a ten-member team with a less-than-sexy handle: GLS — Global Logistics Services. "We need to come up with a better name — like the Corvette Restoration SWAT Team!" laughed GM spokesman Monte Doran.

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

Blue Devil restoration – This is no ordinary car. Even though it's only 5 years old, the Blue Devil has been dubbed a "supercar" and "legendary" with a top speed of more than 200 mph.

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

Re-painting the Blue Devil – Much of the Blue Devil restoration involved returning its paint job to pristine conditions, said Doran.

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

The sinkhole – This coming Monday work is set to begin to fill a 30-foot-deep sinkhole which ruined the museum's round Skydome. Estimated cost of the eight-month project: $3.2 million.

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

1992 '1 Millionth' Corvette: Before – The second car that is slated for restoration is the 1 millionth Corvetteever produced. GM says it was built around 2 p.m. on July 2, 1992, at Corvette's Bowling Green Assembly Plant. The 1 millionth Corvette was a white convertible with red interior, as was the first-built Corvette in 1953 -- like the car on the right.

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

1992 '1 Millionth' Corvette: After – It "has much, much more damage than the Blue Devil" said Doran. It's "going to be a much harder, much longer process. Simply because the car is older so it's hard to get replacement parts. We don't have all the expertise in house that we do with current Corvettes like the Blue Devil. One of the biggest decisions is how many of the parts on the car should be replaced. "One of the guys in design calls it a 'respectful restoration,'" Doran said. "You want to keep as much of the orginal components as you possibly can to preserve the history of the car."

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

1962 tuxedo black Corvette: Before – The third car that will be restored is a 1962 beauty dubbed the "Black Corvette. It's been deemed just too old for GM to handle. The company says it no longer has the institutional knowledge required to properly put it back in shape. That job is expected to be done by a hand-picked restoration specialist team, the museum said. "We haven't identified who's fixing it yet."

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

1962 tuxedo black Corvette: After – Despite the car's sinkhole ordeal, museum board member Dana Forrester said it appears the 1962 Corvette "really didn't sustain all that much damage, and I think it will be fairly easily restored. It's just going to need some repair of some punctured or cracked fiberglass. It kind of amazed me that that older fiberglass seemed to hold up better than some of the newer composite plastics that they have."

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

1984 PPG Pace Car: Before – The 1984 PPG Pace Car is a one-of-a-kind concept car developed by PPG in cooperation with Chevrolet, according to GM. It served in one of the world's richest racing events, the PPG Indy Car World Series. Gear-heads will appreciate that it features a Katech engine with chassis by George Foller. The body is by Diversified Glass Product and the finish is Deltron Acrylic Urethane Orange Glow Candy.

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

1984 PPG Pace Car: After – After workers hauled the PPG from the hole, it became apparent the Corvette had been chopped by a large slab of concrete, according to GM. This photo shows that its rear panels have gone missing.

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

1993 ZR-1 Spyder: Before – This 1993 ZR-1 Spyder, on loan from General Motors, was built with"unique hood and front quarter panel vents" to help cool the engine. The car's windshield and side glass were designed to sit lower than other Corvettes to give it an even sleeker profile. Although the museum lists this modified car's year as 1993, mechanically, the Spyder is a stock 1990, according to the museum.

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

1993 ZR-1 Spyder: After – As a crane pulled the Spyder from underground, museum officials said it became apparent it was among the worst damaged. A large boulder was found lodged in the Spyder's cabin, according to the museum website. At the time of the sinkhole collapse, the car was on display with its hood open. The fall snapped the hood off, the website said.

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

1993 40th Anniversary Ruby Red: Before – The 1993 40th Anniversary Corvette stood out for its special ruby red exterior, matching leather seats and wheel centers. It also had a "40th Anniversary" logo emblazoned on its side. In total, 6,749 40th Anniversary Corvettes were built -- as coupes or convertibles, Forrester said.

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

1993 40th Anniversary Ruby Red: After – After it came out of the hole, Chevrolet manager John Spencer told GM, "The 40th Anniversary looks much worse than it really is. Practically every body panel and piece of glass will need to be replaced. However, underneath the frame looks straight, the suspension seems to be intact, and the steering gear still works. It is definitely salvageable." A nearly identical 40th Anniversary Corvette was donated to the museum this month, after its owner saw what had happened to this one.

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

2001 Mallett Hammer Z06: Before – This custom-made 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06was in pristine condition before it tumbled into the sinkhole. Performance car modifier Chuck Mallett transformed this and other Z06 Corvettes into one-of-a-kind vehicles that took part in races all over the East Coast, according to GM.

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

2001 Mallett Hammer: After – After engineers hauled it to the surface, one museum official said the Mallett Hammer had been reduced to "just a tire." Sadly, no one at the museum disagrees that the Mallett Hammer sustained the worst damage of all eight sinkhole Corvettes. It's the least likely to be restored.

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

2009 '1.5 Millionth' Corvette: Before – This is the 1,500,000th Corvette ever built. It came off the assembly line in Bowling Green on May 28, 2009, according to GM. "While the weakening economy was clearly on everyone's mind, there was still an excitement in the air..."

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Sinkhole Corvettes: Before and after 20 photos

2009 '1.5 Millionth' Corvette: After – Seen here after its rescue, the "1.5 Millionth" Corvette obviously took a beating.

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Story highlights

No major repairs have begun on Corvettes recovered from a giant sinkhole

"The last three or four cars that came out of the sinkhole ... we didn't expect them to come out looking quite that bad," said Dana Forrester, lead Corvette restoration member of the museum's board of directors.

Next month, the museum's board of directors plans to meet with independent restorers and Chevrolet's parent company General Motors to consider new strategy on how to save the cars. "We'll listen to what they say about it, and then we'll make a decision as to which car gets restored and to what degree," Forrester told CNN on the phone.

Even for folks who don't care about cars, the Corvette matters. It's historic. Experts call the Corvette the most collected car in America. We're talking about the "world's longest-running, continuously produced passenger car," according to General Motors. Since the 'Vette's 1953 debut, more than 1.5 million have rolled off Chevrolet assembly lines, creating jobs for generations of Americans. The sleek silhouette has transformed into a pop culture icon across TV, films and advertising.

"Recent discussions have changed what the original thoughts were," said Forrester, who's also an officer of the National Corvette Restorers Society. Restoration of some of the cars "may not be possible," he said. Or for some of the cars, "it may be best" that an independent restorer other than GM do it.

The privately funded, not-for-profit museum is governed by the board of directors - but driven by its donors and28,000 members. Don't think 'Vette-heads around the world aren't watching closely. They are. And they care about the details.

"I think they should do it the right way and deliver a finished product like it wasn't damaged at all," said longtime New York Corvette owner Frazer Bharucha, 47, of the Long Island Corvette Owners Association. "When it's all said and done, it should look the way it was when it first entered the museum."

To outsiders, restoring a Corvette "correctly" might seem -- well -- kind of anal. Attention to detail sometimes includes specific engine bolt heads, or original headlights, or even a $10,000 set of original tires. Will the sinkhole cars get that same level of treatment? "I don't believe they'll go that far," Forrester said.

GM's goal is "sensitive restoration," said its Corvette communications manager, Monte Doran. Doran is expected to take part in meetings with museum officials where he anticipates a "serious talk to see if they want us to restore all the cars."

Just be careful, advised Tom Peters, GM's director of exterior design for performance cars. Respect the vehicles. They have "souls." They have "character" and "being." Replacing too many key original parts might result in "re-creations" rather than restorations, he said.

Peters described himself as a passionate museum supporter who's not at all involved in the restoration project. "You have to ask, what is it going to take to bring some of these cars back to being authentic? It's just terrible, but the last two they pulled out are basically pancakes," he said. It's hard to know for sure -- and too soon to tell, but "maybe they're better off just leaving them as they are."

The museum's Skydome. (Click to expand)

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Decisions about which cars to restore might be based on some of these questions:

Did enough of the car's unique body panels survive? Does the car still have structural integrity? Did its fundamental framework suffer too much damage?

The black '62 poses another big question: Does GM still have enough institutional memory to best restore a car that's more than a half-century old? Should independent specialists be brought in to help?

"It may be best that there's some other restorer to do it," Forrester said. "I know GM's got the expertise to go back and take the [two] cars they still own and work on them to a certain degree, but as far as structural work ... I don't know. I'm sure that will enter into the discussion."

Oh, about that 60-foot-deephole in the floor...

In an apparent masterstroke of marketing genius, the museum has put the wrecked cars on display for visitors -- sort of a sports-car version of a carnival freak show.

The whole mess is now "part of the museum's history -- and part of Corvette's history," said Forrester. The idea is, why not embrace it?

Museum officials haven't decided on a long-term strategy to deal with the sinkhole.

There's talk about leaving the hole open as a permanent exhibit, and building stairs so visitors could walk down into it.

Another option would be to return the Skydome to its original condition by filling the sinkhole with dirt and replacing the collapsed floor.

"I personally lean toward securing the hole -- but not filling it -- and creating something like a bridge across it so people can actually look down into it," said Forrester. An accomplished artist, Forrester has painted a watercolor canvas depicting the hole and the 2009 ZR1 Blue Devil rising out of it.

'The Resurrection' (Click to expand)

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If there's a bright side to the sinkhole collapse, Forrester thinks he's found it. "Millions of people in the Corvette culture have pulled together over this," he said. "Now more people outside the community are discovering how special this culture really is."